LITTLE LEAGUE: Red Land homers too much for Back Mountain

Back Mountain shortstop Will McCrum leaps for a liner up the middle in the Little League State Tournament at Palmer Park in Skippack, PA.
Rick Kauffman/Times Herald Staff

SKIPPACK — Red Land lives and dies by the home run ball and they were alive and kicking on Sunday.

Red Land second baseman Kyle Hannon hit home runs in the first and third innings and his teammates bashed three more in a 10-run fifth inning to lead the home team over Back Mountain, 14-4, in the opening round of the Pennsylvania State 11 and 12-year-old State Tournament at Palmer Park.

“Home runs are definitely a part of our offense, there is no question about that,” Red Land manager Mitch Kauffman said. “(Kyle’s home runs) helped set the tone early. With him hitting off a left-hander like that early, and hitting those two, that definitely gave us a good start.”

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Back Mountain started the scoring in the top half of the first inning when the game’s leadoff batter, Todd Phillips, singled to center and the ball got by the center fielder, allowing him to advance to second.

He later scored on a Frankie Nockery RBI single for the first run of the day.

Red Land answered right back.

Luke Wagner singled and Kyle Hannon followed with a long home run to left, taking the lead right back at 2-1.

Back Mountain answered right back in the top half of the second though.

Matt Maransky’s laser triple to right scored Dylan Schuster to tie the game at two.

After Red Land went quietly in the bottom half of the inning, Will McCrum launched a solo homer to left to give Back Mountain a 3-2 lead.

The top of the Red Land lineup ensured that the lead didn’t last long.

Wagner got on base again and Hannon’s second two-run homer of the day made it 4-3, home team.

Back Mountain had an opportunity to get on back in the top of the fourth inning, but a brilliant play Cole Wagner, who accepted the throw from the third baseman and fired back across for the double play.

“I would say that hurt us,” Back Mountain manager Joe Phillips said. “It would have got us around the top of the order a little bit more and got another power hitter up. Yeah, that base running mistake hurt us for sure.”

A Justin Finarelli homer in the top half of the fifth momentarily tied the game at 4-4, but Hunter Merritt worked out of a two-on, two-out jam to send his team into hit.

That’s when Merritt took matters into his own hands and bashed the third Red Land homer of the game, a two-run shot that proved to be the difference.

“That’s a fantastic team,” Phillips said. “The way they outscore their opponents, that’s a team loaded with talent. It’s very hard to keep them down. They hit fastballs out the ballpark, curveballs out of the park. We tried to mix them up a little bit. They’re well coached and have great kids. That’s a great ball club over there.”

Jaden Henline added a three-run shot and Reese Kauffman ended the game via the mercy rule with a two-run bomb to right field.

Merritt, who came on in the top of the fourth, picked up the win and tagged Back Mountain’s Todd Phillips with the loss.

Both teams frequently changed pitchers to skirt around the pitch-limit rules with three Back Mountain kids seeing the mound in the fifth inning alone.

“We’re comfortable,” Kauffman said. “We have three pretty solid pitchers and (Alex) Mowery and Merritt, the last two are certainly two of those guys.”

Red Land will play Collier, a 9-5 winner over Lionville at 4 p.m. today, while Back Mountain will take the field next at 10 a.m. Monday against Lionville.